HMS Bellerophon (1786)
HMS Bellerophon, detail from Scene in Plymouth Sound in August 1815, an 1816 painting by John James Chalon
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Bellerophon |
| Ordered: | 11 January 1782 |
| Builder: | Edward Greaves and Co., Frindsbury |
| Laid down: | May 1782 |
| Launched: | 6 October 1786 |
| Completed: | By March 1787 |
| Renamed: | Captivity on 5 October 1824 |
| Reclassified: | Prison ship from 1815 |
| Nickname(s): | Billy Ruffian |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1836 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Arrogant-class ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1,612 78⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 46 ft 10 1⁄2 in (14.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 19 ft 9 in (6.0 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 550 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Bellerophon was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1786, she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. Known to sailors as the "Billy Ruffian", she fought in three fleet actions, the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar, and was the ship aboard which Napoleon finally surrendered, ending 22 years of nearly continuous war with France.
Built at Frindsbury, Bellerophon was initially laid up in ordinary, briefly being commissioned during the Spanish and Russian Armaments. She entered service with the Channel Fleet on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and took part in the Glorious First of June in 1794, the first of several fleet actions of the wars. Bellerophon narrowly escaped being captured by the French in 1795, when her squadron was nearly overrun by a powerful French fleet, but the bold actions of the squadron's commander, Vice-Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, caused the French to retreat. She played a minor role in efforts to intercept a French invasion force bound for Ireland in 1797, and then joined the Mediterranean Fleet under Sir John Jervis. Detached to reinforce Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson's fleet in 1798, she took part in the decisive defeat of a French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. She then returned to England and went out to the West Indies, where she spent the Peace of Amiens on cruises and convoy escort duty between the Caribbean and North America.
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Wikipedia